272 THE HUNTING FIELD 



but not about the hair, pot-bellied, and uncommonly 

 "long in the tooth." He knew where sixpence could 

 be laid on, or a shilling squeezed out, as well as any 

 man going. He had been Lord Creamjug's "own 

 groom," and had been selected by his lordship to 

 accompany his son to Cambridge, in the advanced 

 capacity of valet and groom of the one horse his 

 lordship thought would assist in digesting his son's 

 mathematics, and other cross-grained stuff that he 

 had to encounter with his mental teeth. 



Of course, Strutt had improved his own education 

 and knowledge of arithmetic among the highly re- 

 spectable tradesmen and "talented" men congregated 

 at Cambridge, and at the time of which we are speak- 

 ing you might have drawn Piccadilly and Oxford Street 

 too, without finding a more "knowing hand" than 

 Simon Strutt. 



Of course, Strutt had now nothing to do with what 

 he called the " dirty work " of the stable. The stud 

 had increased to four, for which he had the second 

 horseman, a regular helper, and as many occasional 

 ones as he chose to take ; Strutt superintended. His 

 valeting was onerous. He attended to all his master's 

 clothes, except his hunting and shooting things, his 

 morning boots and shoes, dirty trowsers and gloves. 

 Those he assigned to the second horseman. He gave 

 the linen out to wash, and counted it or not when it 

 came back as suited his convenience. Altogether, 

 Strutt — we beg his pardon. Mister Strutt — had a hard 

 easy life of it — laboriously idle. 



Strutt, we need not say, was desperately indignant 

 when his master informed him that he had bought 

 the "sweetest horse in the world," and when he men- 

 tioned the name of Captain Shabbyhounde, his gill-less 

 chops reddened like a turkey-cock's thropple at the 

 sight of a scarlet coat. He did not like captains in 

 general, or the name of Captain Shabbyhounde in 

 particular. Our readers may suppose how much he 



